


Jefferson Lives

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen, West Wing Title Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-29
Updated: 2008-05-29
Packaged: 2017-10-03 20:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You'd be a great dad." (coda for "The Kids Are Alright")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jefferson Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to luzdeestrellas for looking this over. Written for [**the West Wing title project**](http://musesfool.livejournal.com/1487052.html).

Sam waits until the lights are out before he asks, "So, am I an uncle?"

"What? What? No." Dean sounds startled, blurts it out way too fast for it to be the truth.

"You sure? 'Cause that kid--"

"Yeah, I know. But no. She said no." He can hear the bed creak as Dean shifts. "Said she had a paternity test done."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Dean sounds sad, the way he used to when he had to tell Sam they were moving and he knew Sam didn't want to but Dad wouldn't budge. "Better this way."

"I guess."

Dean must hear the doubt in his voice, because he gets defensive. "You always said this was no life for a kid."

Sam sighs. "Dean--"

"And anyway, I'm gonna be dead in a few months. That would suck even worse, right? Your dad finally discovers you exist and then he kicks it a couple months later. Christ." He gives a bitter bark of laughter.

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Well, you don't."

"Dean--"

"No, Sam. It's not worth the risk." Dean's voice is the kind of hard that's close to breaking, been like that too often lately, and for once, Sam decides not to push.

He remembers Dean teaching him to tie his shoes, to ride a bike. To skip stones and build snowmen. He remembers Dean reading him to sleep, holding him after nightmares, and putting band-aids on his skinned knees. He thinks about the months after Jess died, the way Dean held him up, kept him from falling apart, tried to get him to open up.

"You'd be a great dad."

"You think?" There's a thread of hope in Dean's voice now, a wistfulness that strikes a chord in Sam, makes his chest ache a little.

"Yeah, Dean. I do."

"Cool." Dean laughs, pleased this time. His bed creaks again, and then his breathing evens out, and he's out like a light. Dean's always been able to sleep anywhere, at any time. It's a skill their father encouraged, and one Sam has never mastered.

Sam lies awake, thinking about the kids Dean'll never get to have, unless Sam can find a way to save him. He mulls everything Ruby said, knowing he can't tell Dean about any of it, can't tarnish their mother's memory for him the way everything else in their lives has been tarnished, can't admit to making a deal of his own, either.

Relying on Ruby is a huge risk, but nothing is more important than saving Dean--giving him a chance to have that future--so it's a risk Sam will have to take.

end

~*~


End file.
